David Maraniss and Ellen Nakashima in The Prince of Tennessee, P. 127: “And during his first week in Bien Hoa, after being issued stiff-plated metal boots, the straitlaced Gore went AWOL. At least that was the loose term he used in a letter to a friend back home to describe those first few days of free and easy movement. He was in no hurry to begin his public-affairs job at the small Army installation on the edge of the massive air base…”